Dawn Before Dusk
by XxX Knight Raven XxX
Summary: Max is an regular child that only hopes to see her father again. She falls in a downwards spiral when she learns of her father's death but can Fang help her pick up the pieces of her life when she learns more about her father every day? FAX
1. Chapter 1

**AN: Hey guys! New story! Hope you love it! **

**Disclaimer: I will only own MR when I can fly with my own wings. P.S. Never gonna happen **

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I watched as the sun rose above the house. The light glinted off of the morning dew as the morning grew brighter. Sighing, I realized that I would have to leave my perch on my roof and face reality. I slowly made it to my feet when a bird swooped towards my head. I quickly ducked, losing my footing. I slipped and rolled off the roof.

I gasped as I reached for anything to hold on to. I felt myself on the edge and made a final attempt at grabbing the gutter. I found purchase for a moment, then I fell. It felt like I was floating- surging towards something great- then my back hit the ground. The air left my chest and I gasped for breath. I laid on the wet ground for about ten minutes writhing and scrambling to fill my lungs.

When I could easily breathe, I registered what happened. I stared at the top of my two story house where I fell from. I should have been in pain right? I should have felt something. Anything! But here I was- fully recovered from the fall. I was not traumatized. I was not scared. At the least I should have been startled. But I felt nothing. I sat up and shook my head trying to clear it. I got to my feet and walked inside my house- pushing the event to the back of my head. Today was the day. When I got home everything will be better because he's coming back. I stopped where I was and remembered when he left me here.

_We pulled up to a huge beige house with a dark brown roof. He looked down at me with sorrow in his eyes. _

_"Baby-" He started. I cut him off. _

_"I'm eight years old. I'm not a baby anymore." I said sternly. How many times have we gone through this? I saw his eyes crinkle when he grinned. _

_"Aww you'll always be my baby." He said ruffling my hair. I made a face at him and he chuckled then sighed. "I'm sorry that this is happening to you. I'm so sorry about your mom. I'm so sorry about leaving you but I have to." He looked into my eyes, hoping I would understand. He was one of the scientists that were called in to make biological weapons for some war in some county. I smiled. _

_"Of course I understand. It's fine as long as you keep your promise." He smirked ad he nodded. _

_"I swear," He said making an X over his heart. "I will be back in seven years to this day." _

_"I'm holding that to you now." I said as I grabbed my bag and hopped out the car. I looked up at the foreboding house before me. The paint was peeling off the walls. Ivy was growing up past the roof. That wasn't even the worst part. When we got about five feet from the door a woman came out wearing a cocktail dress and a boa. _

_"Hey Max! Nice to have ya! You can just make yourself comfortable in any of the guest rooms- I have to leave. Ta ta darling!" She said, rushing past us. He sighed watching her go. _

_"That's your Aunt Hilda for you." He must have seen the wary expression on my face. "I promise. Only seven years. I'll be here ASAP." He whispered in my ear. Right at that moment his phone beeped. "Baby, I have to leave if I want to catch my flight." He gave me a huge hug before saying goodbye. He kissed the top of my head and rushed off to his car. I took a step inside the house and was welcomed by the sent of smoke and mildew. Home sweet home. _

It didn't matter anymore. Nothing mattered because he was coming home. I walked into the house and got dressed in the best outfit I had. I made my way to my calendar and crossed off another day to find a red circle over the number.

March 28, 2014.

Today is the day that he comes home.

Today is the day that I see Jeb.


	2. Chapter 2

**Hey Guys! Chapter two! Okay let me know if you like this story.**

**Disclaimer: I will own MR as soon as I am a famous painter P.S. In my dreams**

**Second disclaimer: I don't own Count Me In by Framing Hanley but you should look it up. Trust me- it's worth your time **

**Ok TO THE STORY! :D**

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I grabbed my backpack and ran out the house, passing my aunt who was currently knocked out on the couch. I jogged to school with an extra hop in my step. These seven years have not flown by like he said before. I basically had only four friends since I was eight. I sighed as I thought of them. They were always there for me. I had no idea what I'd do without them. I neared the school and saw her dark brown corkscrew hair.

"Hey Nudge!" I yelled across the courtyard. She turned at the sound at her name and a huge grin broke across her face. She ran towards me.

"Hey Max!" She said, wrapping her arms around my waist. "Are you excited?" She said practically vibrating. "I mean it's been seven years and you haven't seen him for such a long time. You have to be freaking out. I mean what if he changed. I mean you definitely changed. What if he misses his-," I clapped my hand over her mouth.

"Take. A. Breath." I said slowly. She giggled into my hand and licked my palm. I shrugged. "Jokes on you. You have no idea where my hands have been." Her eyes widened with realization.

"Ew dude! What the hell did you do!" She screeched spitting on the ground.

"Max. What did you do now?" I smirked.

"Absolutely nothing." I said, turning to face the most albino person on the face of the Earth. "Hey Igg."

"Hey Max. And come on Nudge. Don't you know it's unladylike to curse like a sailor?" He nodded towards where she was still spitting and complaining. She glared at him.

"Well you can go f-,"

"Ooooooookay." I said, cutting her off. "Oh hey guys." I said to Gazzy and Angel as the walked up to our group looking somewhat mortified.

"Hey babe." Iggy said as he walked up to Angel, giving her a peck on the cheek. I looked over and saw Gazzy and Nudge already hugging. I got fed up- and that happens often.

"Ok. Couple's time is over." I said walking into the school. I heard laughter behind me and felt my face heat. I groaned when they caught up to me.

"I think it's time to get Max a boyfriend." I heard Angel say. I turned and glared at her.

"No." I said sternly.

"Fine. A girlfriend if that's what you're into." I gawked at her, to annoyed to say anything. I stormed to my locker leaving them behind again. I spun the numbers into my combination and threw my backpack inside and grabbed what I needed. I sat in homeroom and stared out the window.

"Guys, I think she's mad at us." I heard from a couple of desks over. I felt their gazes on my face. I just turned away from them. Someone nudged my arm. "Hey Max?" Gazzy asked. I just ignored him. "Oh come on Max. We were only joking." I sighed.

"I know, I know." I said. "So we're forgiven?" He asked. "Oh not even close." I said with a laugh. He looked confused. "For you to be forgiven I want something." I thought for a moment. "I want a pony." I said with finality. He laughed and turned toward the group.

"Hey guys! Shes back!" There was a chorus of "yeahs" until the teacher, Mr. Helms, glared at us. Finally first block started. Math. I slipped on my ear buds and zoned out. It wasn't until I was called on to work a problem that I realized that I was still at school. Sighing, I walked up to the board and worked the problem- correctly might I add. He grunted which was his way of dismissing me. I went back to my seat right as the bell rang. I grabbed my stuff and moved to my next class. Science.

I sat in the back of the class trying to avoid everyone's attention. That worked sooooo well when I decided to drop all of my books. I hurried to pick everything up when a huge heel stepped on my hand. I grit my teeth as I yanked it away- taking some skin away too. Blood welled up from my hand as I picked up everything else. I heard her snicker as she watched me.

"Oh poor Max." She said with fake sadness.

"What do you want Lisa?" I growled at her.

"Well I only want to help! What else?" She said keeping up her innocent facade. "See look," She said as she kicked my journal further away from me. "Oops." She said sashaying away.

I rolled my eyes as I picked up my crap and walked over to my journal to see someone already picking it up. I realized that it was my music journal. No one gets to read it. No one. I ran over to the person. I snatched it from out of his grasp.

"Thanks." I said finally looking at him. He had olive skin and dark hair that covered his left eye. He had black eyes that someone could lose them self in. I would so remember those eyes. "Hey are you new?" I asked him. He gave me one curt nod. I had to suppress a smirk. "Well, I'm Max. There's an open seat in the back next to me." I turned on the heel of my black converse and walked back towards my seat. He followed me and sat in the seat to my right. "So, new kid. What's your name?" I asked. He looked at me.

"My name's Nick but everyone calls me Fang." He said. I snorted.

"Ok there has to be some kind of great story behind that nickname." He smirked but said nothing. I sighed and began to write in my journal. I noticed him looking over my shoulder. "Anything I can help you with?" I said sarcastically. He shrugged. I shook my head and turned away from him so he couldn't see what I was writing. He tried to cover a laugh with a cough. Confused, I looked around.

_Hey_, I thought. _Wasn't Mrs. Ravencraft up there a second ago?_ I turned around and found her behind me.

"Max. I hope you would love to share what you wrote with the class." She said staring at me with her beady eyes.

"Actually I'd rather not-," I started.

"Fine. I'll do it." She grabbed the book from my hands and started to read.

"Cradle up there's a fragile life  
You can paint the picture pretty  
But it serves as no disguise  
Its only getting later now  
And you've become a waste of time  
The silver spoon won't feed your friends  
Cause life tastes better when your eat with your hands  
Count me in and I'll be the one  
To take the knife out of your spine  
Cause I know you'd be the first  
To bury the blade deeper into mine  
Into mine."

My face was hot when she finished. It was like she was reading the contents of my brain out to the class.

"If you think this is more valuable then your education let me give you a reality check: This will get you nowhere." She said throwing my book back on my desk. I put my head on my desk and took deep even breaths. Well at least I had one thing to look forward to. The thought of my dad coming home gave me enough energy to get through this block.


	3. Chapter 3

**Hey guys! Chapter three! Uh... are you guys liking this story? I thought I would get a better reaction but you know... *wink wink nudge nudge* Ok. Thanks for reading! Love you guys! **

**Disclaimer: I will never own MR**

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Finally the lunch bell rang and I practically ran to the cafeteria. I walked in and scanned the room for Nudge, Iggy, Angel, or Gazzy. I spotted them about to sit down at a table near the the windows. I went through the line and got a Coke and sat down. Nudge was the first to notice my- now bandaged- hand.

"Holy shit! What happened?" She yelled, grabbing my hand. I winced and yanked it away from her.

"Just an accident." I said scanning the room for Fang. I couldn't get the kid off my mind. Every time I closed my eyes, I would see his perfect face with that crooked smile. I shook my head. What's wrong with me? I hardly know the guy!

"What do you think Max?" Iggy said, pulling me back into reality.

"Think about what?" I asked.

"Who do you think is better:" Gazzy started.

"Wonder Woman or Black Widow?" Igg finished. I looked at them like they were crazy.

"And why would I have an opinion on this?"

"Because," Gazzy whined. "Ok. Look at them this way. Look at their combat skills. Who would be better in a fight?" I thought carefully. Although Wonder Woman did have her whip- right?- Black Widow can definitely do some damage if she landed one punch, let alone a flurry of punches and kicks. Hmmm... choices, choices. I opened my mouth to answer when I saw him walking into the lunchroom. Before I knew what I was doing my hands were in the air waving him over.

"Hey Fang!" I shouted. He looked over at me, shrugged, and started walking over. Everyone was looking at me. "Guys, be cool. He's new and really nice... I think." I said, remembering the few words we'd exchanged. Angel and Nudge gave me a weird look.

"I wonder if it's possible that Max has a crush." I heard Angel whisper to Nudge. She nodded, then giggled when they saw the glare I was sending their way. I urged them to be cool one last time before he sat down at our table.

"Hey Max." He said in his beautiful deep voice. He nodded to everyone else. I mentally face palmed myself.

"Okay. Introductions. Guys, this is Fang. Fang, this is Angel, Nudge, Gazzy, and Iggy." I said indicating each of them as I said their name. They all murmured their greeting then our table delved into an awkward silence. After about two minutes I was squirming in my seat. I guess Gazzy could tell because he suddenly spoke up.

"You never answered my question." I cocked my head to the side as he said this. "Who's better? Black Widow or Wonder Woman." I smirked.

"Obviously Black Widow. Not only is she strong but she is amazingly fast. She also plans out her strategies before she attacks someone or something. Wonder Woman on the other hand just basically attacks and hopes she'll land a hit. Black Widow has a certain grace about whatever she does- especially her fighting. That, and she basically just looks more bad ass then Wonder Woman." I finished, crossing my arms.

"But Wonder Woman has her whip. She can easily make long distance attacks using that." Iggy argued.

"Even though Wonder Woman has a silly whip does not mean she can win a fight. Like Max said- she relies more on brawn then brains." Fang jumped in. Huh. He's adorable and he knows his heroes. I guess the girls noticed too.

"Hey Max, come to the bathroom with us?" Nudge asked. I shrugged and followed them. As soon as I was in the restroom, they grilled me about him.

"Do you actually like him?" Angel asked.

"No! I only met him last block!" She shrugged and let Nudge ask a question.

"What do you think about him?" She said, eyeing me.

"I don't know. He's nice. And funny. Definitely attractive. And a nerd- you don't find a cute nerd around like you used to." I started blushing. Why the heck am I blushing?! Ugggg. They both looked at each other and huge smiles broke out across their faces,

"ZOMG! It's love at first sight!" Nudge sang, dancing through the stalls. I rolled my eyes.

"We knew it would happen! Max has a crush! Max has a crush!" Angel joined Nudge's song. I got up and left them in the bathroom and walked straight into the one and only Fang.

"Oh my God." I said. "Uh... sorry. Hey, why aren't you in there with the guys?" I asked him. He shrugged.

"School's almost over, I thought I'd grab my stuff now so I don't have to go later." I nodded. He started walking away and I had to jog to catch up to him.

"I'm coming too." He looked back at me and shrugged. "God, is that all you do?" He looked at me with question in his eyes. "All you do is smirk and shrug. Honestly, have some real human interaction!" I said exasperated. He stopped and turned to me.

"You want human interaction?" He asked me. I gulped and nodded. He thought for a couple seconds then looked at me seriously.

"How are you Max?" He said with a straight face. I tried not to. I really did, but a giggle escaped my lips. I just couldn't stop. Soon, my sides hurt from laughing so hard. He joined in after a few seconds. Our laughter filled the hallways. "Well," He said when we both recovered. "How was that for your human interaction?" I let a few more giggles out before I answered.

"I loved it. I totally underestimated you my friend." I said, slapping him on the shoulder. We started walking again. "So where are you from?" I asked him.

"Manhattan, New York." He said.

"Oh my God no way! Me too!" I said excitedly. "Yeah I was in the Oaks apartment building."

"I was a couple streets up from where that is." He replied calmer. "I was on 5th street."

"How did we not meet each other?" I mused.

"Well, don't think of the past, think of now." He chuckled at some inside joke I guess. I stopped at my locker when we got to it. He stopped too.

"Hey you know you can go to your locker. I'll catch up to you." He nodded with a smirk then went to the locker next to mine and opened it. "Wait." I started. "This is your locker?" I asked. He nodded and filled up his backpack. I shrugged and did the same. Right as we closed our locker doors the bell rang.

"Do you want a ride?" He said, slinging his backpack on his shoulder.

"Yeah sure. Hey can we wait for everyone else?" He shrugged and I rolled my eyes. By the time we were all in the car it was about three o'clock. We went to my house to hang out. That and I wanted my friends there to meet my dad. After we finished doing our homework we just sat around and talked. Fang even stayed. Then at around five I heard a faint knock at my door. I sprinted to it and yanked it open, expecting to see my dad. Instead I found two people in a navy blue uniform with medals decorating their breast pockets. They wore hats that stated "Biological Warfare". I got a bad feeling in then pit of my stomach.

"Are you Maximum Ride?" One of them asked. I slowly nodded. The men took off their hats.

"Um... Max. This is always hard to say." The other started. I took a step back and shook my head.

"No. This can't be happening." They looked at me with sad looks in their faces. I clenched my teeth. "How. How the hell did this happen." I growled.

"We found him this morning in his room. We think he overdosed. I'm so sorry." The first one said. His brown eyes were full of sorrow. I stumbled back and fell. I heard my friends coming. They must have seen the look on my face and the two men at the door. They said thank you and closed the door after the men said that they would call with the funeral date. I was more shocked then anything. I felt myself start shaking. I just wanted to curl up and disappear.

"How!" I screamed to the roof. "How could you leave me?" Nudge and Angel were trying to shush me. They told me it would be okay but it wouldn't be. Nothing would be the same because he's gone. I had no one. I had nothing. I was an empty body. Just a void. I could never be anything without him in this world. I would never wish the pain that I felt upon anyone. I tried to cry but the tears wouldn't come. It went for days like this. I eventually ended up just staring at myself in the mirror. So this is me. I thought. This is what nothing looks like.

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**I really hope you guys liked this chapter. I really had a hard time writing this one. I hope I captured the pain that hundreds of people feel each day and showed it through Max. If you have recently went through something like this, I know it sounds cheesy, but trust me it does get better. Okay. Enough sad stuff. Thanks for reading!**


	4. Update

Hey guys! ok I know this is not the chapter tht you guys want to see. This is just an update one. Ok. I am writing this chapter I just dont have a lot of time to write because of school. That and I am working on posting longer chapters. Don't worry because I know everything that is going into this story. I love writing this and I dont expect to stop. Ok thanks for not hating me! Fly on~ XxX Knight Raven XxX 


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